


The Ribbon That Binds Us

by Capesandshapes



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Red String of Fate, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27685664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capesandshapes/pseuds/Capesandshapes
Summary: The Red String of Fate, a line only visible in photographs, varies in color and thickness depending on your connection with your soulmate. Marinette used to have a thin, cherry red string, but once Chat Noir appeared that was covered by a thick, burgundy red ribbon.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 12
Kudos: 237





	The Ribbon That Binds Us

They all look different. Some are thin, smooth silk, others roughly spun rope. She’s seen some that are just a hair thick, threatening to break at the slightest sign of tension. They’re different colors too, most a pleasant dark pink, a few a dark ruby that nears black; she’s heard rumors that some are nearly white. Legend says, the thicker it was, the stronger your bond, and the darker it was, the deeper your feelings.

Marinette didn’t know if she believed that. She’s once had a thin, pleasant line, one that was a bright cherry red. All the photos showed her with it, her line pulled loosely around her pinkie as it pulled out of frame. It resembled her parents’ string in a way, a manageable yet reliable love. She liked that; it was the type of love that was easy to recuperate from if things went wrong, yet also a love that she could rely on. If something drastic happened with her soulmate and she found herself re-tied, she was sure that with that line, all would be well.

But it couldn’t be like that forever, no. Marinette eyed her pinkie, imagining the line that had grown around it, not retied but permanently changed. As if she needed to imagine it, with the Ladyblog pulled up on her computer, she could simply look and see it.

A wide, dark ribbon tied between her and Chat Noir, covering every inch of her pinkie and his in the photographs. Thankfully you could never see it clearly in Alya’s pictures, or else people would notice the rose pattern across the ribbon. It was enough to keep Alya quiet when they sat together in photobooths but too much for Marinette to ignore otherwise.

It had to be the Miraculous, that was the only logical explanation. There had to be a normal line underneath the ribbon, a thin yarn one like the one that she had as a child. One like the lengthy one that tied to Adrien Agreste in all of his photos.

Of course, Alya thought it was faked, proclaiming that celebrities often had their lines edited. Some had them removed entirely, and others had them replaced with less distinct ones so people could dream of theirs matching up. Adrien didn’t seem like that type of person to Marinette though, it wouldn’t be his choice if they were edited.

It was safer for her to accept that they didn’t match, that there was no way he was her soulmate. Imagining a cherry red yarn loop hidden beneath the deep burgundy ribbon, that was always a dangerous thing to do. Still, she imagined pulling hold of the ribbon then and simply sliding it off, revealing that her knot from childhood was still there. Would it pull taut as Adrien grew nearer? 

“Marinette,” her mother called from downstairs, snapping the girl out of her thoughts and causing her to jerk so that her knees hit the underside of her desk.  _ Ow _ . “You have a visitor!”

“Just a second!” She called back, brushing through her pigtails with her fingers and straightening her blazer. She’d agreed to go to the park with Adrien that day, just the two of them as Alya and Nino had ‘accidentally’ made other plans. Looking in the mirror, she couldn’t help but smile as she stuck up her pinkie, whispering to herself, “just underneath.” If only.

* * *

They walked slowly together, his hips often bumping against hers as they always seemed so near colliding. It seemed that, no matter what, Adrien and Marinette were destined to cross paths, or at least he’d joked that.

She liked it, the way that it felt walking next to him, eyes on them and assuming. It was nice to feel like people thought they were together, that they belonged together. Their hands were barely brushing as he gestured to different things, taking the time to enjoy her company during their walk. He talked for ages, and she could listen for centuries.

But eventually, they had to settle down, finding an empty space in the grass where others weren’t so close. He sat inches from her, basking in the sun like a thoroughly domesticated cat as she giggled to his side. She couldn’t help but notice the gentle rise and fall of his chest and how softly his eyes shut as he seemed to near sleep beside her. She was glad that he felt at home with her.

“We should take a photo together,” he finally breathed, his lips stretched in a lazy grin.

“For your Instagram?” She asked.

“No,” he replied, “for me.” His eyes opened slowly as he explained, “it’s nice to have moments that I don’t have to share with anyone else.”

She hummed in agreement, shifting closer to his side so that she was a friendly distance away, growing surprised when one of his arms wrapped around her and pulled her closer so that their cheeks were touching.

He leaned into her touch, smiling as he lifted his phone in front of them. “You have to do the v,” he proclaimed, “it’s dorky, but you have to.” He showed her, arm migrating up to her shoulders so that the v that he made with his fingers was visible.

She obliged, laughing as she raised the v next to her face.

He pressed the button a few times, each photo immediately disappearing onto his phone before they could be reviewed. Pleased, he pulled away from her, switching to his gallery app to flip through them.

She craned beside him, straining to see the pictures as his face fell. Her hand tightened into fists on her thighs, a single exhale escaping her as the first photo came into view.

The two of them, their faces pressed together as they smiled, Adrien’s eyes peering towards her rather than the camera. Their noses scrunched as laughter neared the surface, bodies overlapping. To the side, tied to the smallest fingers of their balled hands, a thick burgundy ribbon was pulled tight.

**Author's Note:**

> [ I said I was going to do it, and goddammit, I did it. ](https://capesandshapes.tumblr.com/post/633781056505577472/au-where-the-red-string-of-date-is-only-visible-in) A detail that I didn't include is that, in my headcanon for this au, your string looks exactly like how it would if your soulmate tied it for you.
> 
> Hi, my name is Capesandshapes and I have exactly one long-form story updating right now and a back catalog of Miraculous Ladybug and Batman fanfics of varying genres. If you like my writing and you want to see more, feel free to drop a request in my ask box at https://capesandshapes.tumblr.com/ask, where I will try to be as active as possible in fulfilling them. All of my fanfiction will be posted to my AO3, so stay tuned.


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